Front cover image for The Bedford reader

The Bedford reader

Print Book, English, ©1991
Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, Boston, ©1991
exercise books
xxvii, 778 pages ; 21 cm
9780312035853, 0312035853
23221512
Introduction
Why Read? Why Write? Why Not Phone?
Using the Bedford Reader
Reading an Essay
In Bed / Joan Didion
Part I: Narration : Telling a Story
The Method
The Process
Narration in a Paragraph: Two Illustrations
Champion of the World / Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou on Writing
On Being the Target of Discrimination / Ralph Ellison
Ralph Ellison on Writing
A Hanging / George Orwell
George Orwell on Writing
Universtiy Days / James Thurber
James Thurber on Writing
It's Just Too Late / Calvin Trillin
Calvin Trillin on Writing
Tiananmen Square / John Simpson
The Lottery / Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson on Writing
Additional Writing Topics
Part II: Description: Writing With Your Senses
The Method
The Process
Descriptions in a Paragraph: Two Illustrations
The Death of the Moth / Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf on Writing
Death of a Moth / Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard on Writing
Ode to Thanksgiving / Michael J. Arlen
The Liquid City / Joan Didion
Joan Didion on Writing
The Discus Thrower / Richard Selzer
Richard Selzer on Writing
Once More to the Lake / E.B. White
E.B. White on Writing
A Narrow Fellow in the Grass / Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson on Writing
Additional Writing Topics
Part III: Pointing to Instances
The Method
The Process
Example in a Paragraph: Two Illustrations
On Compassion / Barbara Lazear Ascher
Homeless / Anna Quindlen
Anna Quindlen on Writing
Advertisements for Oneself / Lance Morrow
Lance Morrow on Writing
Black Men and Public Space / Brent Staples
Brent Staples on Writing
Proxemics in the Arab World / Edward T. Hall
Edward T. Hall on Writing
Additional Writing Topics
Part IV: Comparison and Contrast: Setting Things Side by Side
The Method
The Process
Comparison and Contrast in a Paragraph: Two Illustrations
Neat People vs. Sloppy People / Suzanne Britt
Suzanne Brit on Writing
Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts / Bruce Catton
Bruce Catton on Writing
Sin, Salvation and a Good Shrink / Ellen Goodman
Ellen Goodman on Writing
Japanese and American Workers: Two Casts of Mind / William Ouchi
The Black and White Truth about Basketball / Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Greendfield on Writing
Football Red and Baseball Green / Murray Ross
Additional Writing Topics
Part V: Explaining Step by Step
The Method
The Process
Process Analysis in a Paragraph: Two Illustrations
Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain / Jessica Mitford
Jessica Mitford on Writing
How Our Skins Got Their Color / Marvin Harris
The President's Speech / Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks on Writing
How to Poison the Earth / Linnea Saukko
Linnea Saukko on Writing
Desperation Writing / Peter Elbow
Peter Elbow on Writing
Writing and Vision / Annie Dillard
Additional Writing Topics
Part VI: Division or Analysis: Slicing into Parts
The Method
The Process
Division or Analysis in a Paragraph: Two Illustrations
I Want a Wife / Judy Brady
Predictable Crises of Adulthood / Gail Sheehy
The Death of a Moth: Two Visions / Margot Harrison
Margot Harrison on Writing
Barbara Walters's Theater of Revenge / Mark Crispin Miller
Mark Crispin Miller on Writing
Naughty but Nice: Food Pornography / Rosalind Coward
Additional Writing Topics
Part VII: Classification: Sorting into Kinds
The Method
The Process
Classifications in a Paragraph: Two Illustrations
Wait Divisions / Tom Bodett
Tom Bodett on Writing
The Sound of Music: Enough Already / Fran Lebowitz
Fran Lebowitz on Writing
Solving for Pattern / Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry on Writing
Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor Poorer / Robert B. Reich
Robert B. Reich on Writing
Class Acts: America's Changing Middle Class / Ralph Whitehead, Jr
Ralph Whitehead, Jr. on Writing
Additional Writing Topics
Part VIII: Analogy: Drawing a Parallel
The Method
The Process
Analogy in a Paragraph: Two illustrations
Oppresses Hair Puts a Ceiling on the Brain / Alice Walker
Alice Walker on Writing
The Attic of the Brain / Lewis Thomas
Lewis Thomas on Writing
The Battle of the Ants / Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau on Writing
"But a Watch in the Night": A Scientific Fable / James C. Rettie
The Parable of the Ring Around the Collar / Neil Postman
Neil Postman on Writing
Additional Writing Topics
Part IX: Cause and Effect: Asking Why
The Method
The Process
Cause and Effect in a Paragraph: Two Illustrations
Drugs / Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal on Writing
The Case for Slavery / A.M. Rosenthal
A.M. Rosenthal on Writing
Why Rock Remains the Enemy / John Rockwell
John Rockwell on Writing
Sex, Drugs, Disasters and the Extinction of Dinosaurs / Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould on Writing
Too Many Weapons in the World / Carl Sagan and Richard Turco
Carl Sagan on Writing
Freedom, Control and Success: Asia and America / James Fallows
James Fallows on Writing
Additional Writing Topics
Part X: Definition: Tracing a Boundry
The Method
The Process
Definition in a Paragraph: Two Illustrations
On Home / John Berger
John Berger on Writing
Pioneers: A View of Home / Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni on Writing
Gossip / Francine Prose
Pornoviolence / Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe on Writing
What is Vulgar? / Joseph Epstein
Joseph Epstein on Writing
The Holocaust / Bruno Bettleheim
Additional Writing Topics
Part XI: Argument and Persuasion: Stating Opinions and Proposals
The Method
The Process
Argument and Persuasion in a Paragraph: Four Illustrations
The Penalty of Death / H.L. Mencken
H.L. Mencken on Writing
Hope I Die before I Get Rich / Barbara Ehrenreich
Barbara Ehrenreich on Writing
Streets of Gold: The Myth of the Model Minority / Curtis Chang
Curtis Chang on Writing
America: The Multinational Society / Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Reed on Writing
Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood / Richard Rodriguez
Richard Rodriguez on Writing
Why Don't We Complain / William F. Buckley, Jr
William F. Buckley Jr on Writing
On the Need for Asylums / Lewis Thomas
Politics and the English Language / George Orwell
I Have a Dream / Martin Luther King Jr
A Modest Proposal / Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift on Writing
Additional Writing Topics
Useful Terms
Essays Arranged by Subject
Index
Includes index